Plant/Controller Optimization by Convex Methods

Abstract

This report presents results of a three phase effort to demonstrate the use of convex control design techniques in aeronautical applications. The first phase was the demonstration of a methodology by which classical aircraft controller design requirements could be translated into the weighting matrices for H infinity controller synthesis. The second phase extended that methodology to the design of mixed H2 / H infinity controllers. The third phase considered the problem of minimizing the size of aircraft control surfaces while meeting closed-loop dynamic performance requirements. Control sizing is a critical element in the design of Reduced Static Stability (RSS) aircraft. Inadequate control power places the vehicle in peril, while too much control power forfeits the benefits of RSS, resulting in poorer performance, increased weight, increased cost, increased drag, and increased observability. Non-heuristic methods have been required by which the physical configuration and the accompanying controller can be designed directly from the flying qualities specifications. The optimization of the surfaces should be done while searching over the set of all controllers which, together in closed-loop, satisfy the flying qualities requirements. This report presents a methodology which simultaneously optimizes both the physical configuration and the control system of a rigid body, using performance requirements which can be posed as Linear Matrix Inequalities.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1994
Accession Number
ADA283700

Entities

People

  • Robert J. Niewoehner Jr.

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerodynamic Configurations
  • Aeronautical Engineering
  • Aircraft Equipment
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Algorithms
  • Birds
  • Closed Loop Systems
  • Computational Fluid Dynamics
  • Computational Science
  • Control Surfaces
  • Control Systems
  • Control Systems Engineering
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Open Loop Systems
  • Unmanned Systems

Readers

  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)